Mealtimes at Oak Lee

At our Love Lane site children are offered Breakfast, Lunch, Tea and Snacks. At our West End Lane site, children are offered Breakfast, Lunch and Snacks. These meals are subject to the session that your child will attend. Please refer to Routine and Menu for times and examples.

Mealtimes are a time for socialising, learning about healthy food and good table manners. Children sit in a family style environment where a teacher sits with a small group of between 8 and 10 children. Adults and children eat together. The children at Oak Lee enjoy their food and eat well. We encourage our cooks to visit the classrooms and interact with the children. The cooks will send a sample of the fresh raw ingredients that are going to be used in the meal so that the children begin to take an interest in food. Types of vegetables that the children have seen have been Kohlrabi, Purple carrots, butternut squash as well as herbs such as coriander and parsley.

Our menus are well balanced and designed to encourage children to explore foods from a wide variety of cultures. Food will be adapted in terms of consistency and texture to meet the needs of all the children. Snacks are provided throughout the work cycle for children to access when they feel hungry or thirsty. Snacks will also be age appropriate and, as always, healthy.

Wherever possible we use ingredients which are fresh, organic, low salt, low sugar and restricted in colourants. We may use fresh frozen vegetables when fresh vegetables are unattainable. We always offer a vegetarian option and only serve chicken and lamb which is free-range. All our dishes are home-made and prepared by our cooks in our kitchen at Love Lane, or when necessary by our staff who will have obtained a Food Hygiene qualification and training.

Lunch for children at West End lane is transported from Love Lane daily.

We adhere to strict Health and Safety standards and food hygiene guidelines when preparing and serving food. We are a nut free zone.

If your child has any particular dietary requirements, we will be happy to discuss these with you.